A special meeting of the North Little Rock City Council is scheduled for noon Monday to ask aldermen to waive formal bidding for the city to buy three new firetrucks to replace ones with ongoing repairs, according to the proposal.
The three Pierce NFPA Saber Chassis firetrucks will cost $1,188,290.46, or $396,096.82 each, including tax and shipping costs, according to the legislation emailed to council members Friday. The trucks were manufactured in December 2014, the proposal added.
The city's $61.6 million general fund budget included $1.25 million for new fire engines as part of a five-year plan by Mayor Joe Smith to replace 12 firefighting vehicles at a total cost of $8.95 million.
The city's average pumper truck is 13 years old, Smith has said, and the oldest vehicle is more than 19 years old and has more than 120,000 miles on it.
Smith, who took office in 2013, said the condition of the fire trucks is "unacceptable." One fire engine was out of service nine times last fall, and aerial trucks had no operational backup to help on fire calls, Smith has said.
The fire engines are at a Pierce Manufacturing Inc. dealership and have been placed for sale online on an industry website. The trucks are on hold until the City Council can approve the purchase, according to the legislation.
North Little Rock Fire Chief Jim Murphy said in a memo to the mayor that the city can buy the trucks now at a savings of $81,000. Ordering new fire trucks takes about eight months, and "while waiting we will continue to incur high repair bills on the existing trucks," Murphy said.
Metro on 01/31/2015